


Speaking of Daniel

by Fig Newton (sg_fignewton)



Series: Speaking of SG-1 [4]
Category: Stargate (1994), Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Episode Related, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Introspection, Pre-Series, archaeology love, linguistics love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 22:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12921900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_fignewton/pseuds/Fig%20Newton
Summary: Twelve prompted drabbles, twelve glimpses of Daniel.





	1. Young Daniel and public school

**Author's Note:**

> Written in April 2011; prompts are chapter titles. Eras range from pre-series to S9-10. Slight spoilers for _Stargate: the Movie, COTG, 100 Days, The First Ones,_ and the Ascension and Ori arcs.
> 
> All of these drabbles are exactly 100 words according to Semagic; AO3's word count may differ.

Daniel eyed the Mickey Mouse lunch box, speculating about what archeologists might think in the future. Would they study the faded primary colors and theorize that children of the twentieth century had worshiped a rodent?

He swung the metal box experimentally and wondered if it would make a good weapon. He couldn't be certain -- private tutors and his distracted parents' absent-minded instruction had been the norm until now -- but he suspected that public school in America would require the means to defend himself.

Daniel sighed. He was bound to learn _something_. He just wasn't sure it would be _education_.


	2. The writing on the wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this scene is lifted directly from _Stargate: the Movie_.

Daniel lifted the torch higher, peering closely at the drawn symbols that leaped into view. Despite the proof of the massive pyramid that housed the Stargate, he still found it hard to believe that Egyptian hieroglyphs could be inscribed on a tunnel wall on this planet, so far away from Earth. If only he could speak properly with Sha'uri and ask!

He murmured aloud, trying to understand, then glanced up sharply at the soft inquiry: _"Tapari'ef?"_

Her inflections and vowels were different, but her words clearly mirrored his...

Maybe the writing on the wall would help them communicate, after all.


	3. Daniel's thoughts on seeing the box of Kleenex come through the Abydos gate

When Daniel unburied the _chappa'ai_ with Kasuf's permission, he had no thought of connecting to Earth. Jack had gone back and told them that Abydos was gone. They would've sealed it off and abandoned it long ago, already buried 28 levels below the ground.

So when the tissue box came flying through the event horizon and landed at Skaara's feet, Daniel could do little more than stare. He'd dreamed of using the cartouche to find other worlds, of spreading the joyous news of Ra's deaths to other subservient peoples who didn't know their former master was gone.

But Earth?

What now?


	4. Daniel runs his fingers over an artifact

Daniel doesn't care if an artifact might unlock the secrets of the universe or direct the SGC to some marvelous technology for defeating the Goa'uld. He dutifully and meticulously records any such information, but it's not his true focus. He's much more interested in touching a tangible link to the past, to running his fingers along worked metal or stone or leather that some craftsman, in another time and age, labored to create. He strokes along its curves and whorls or caresses its edges, trying to learn its history.

 _I want to know your story,_ those fingers say. _Show me._


	5. Daniel recruiting Rothman

"Daniel, it's been four years of complete silence. I didn't even know if you're still alive! And now you're calling from Colorado to recruit me?"

"Better than borrowing money," Daniel said cheerfully. 

Robert snorted at the old jibe at their chronic lack of funds, back in the day. "So this offer is worth it because the Air Force pays well?"

"No," Daniel disagreed, his voice suddenly serious. "It's worth it because the opportunities for discovery and exploration are endless." He paused, letting Robert digest this, then added more lightly, "But now that you mention it, the pay's pretty good, too."


	6. Stratigraphy

Archeology usually involves examining the physical evidence that ancient civilizations left behind: their tools, their structures, even their trash heaps. These cultures might shape the world to their liking -- diverting water courses, carving or flattening hills -- but archeology studies their impact on the earth, not the earth itself.

Daniel, however, is also intrigued by stratigraphy, that geological concept of rock and stone telling past tales. There's a certain grandeur involved in the planet giving voice to its history, unaffected by the creatures that scurry upon it.

After Edora's meteor firestorm, he's simply grateful that he knew enough to save lives.


	7. Daniel outraged over the "Indiana Jones" archeology trope

After some brilliant wag left yet another bull whip coiled neatly on the chair in Daniel's office, he stalked into Hammond's office and petitioned to have the _Indiana Jones_ movies removed from the SGC's library. Hammond refused, but diplomatically suggested that Daniel recommend some more realistic titles that might be added to better educate SGC personnel. 

"But can't you...?"

"I'm sorry," Hammond demurred, "but there's nothing wrong with escapist entertainment." Not to mention how entertaining it would be when Doctor Jackson found out that Colonel O'Neill was personally responsible for adding the movies to the library in the first place...


	8. Daniel learning a new language

Daniel loves the challenge of encountering a new language: listening to its phonology, examining its morphology, studying its structural system. He'll spend painstaking hours learning syntax and semantics and semiotics, until he finally reaches sheer delight when the communications barrier is broken, like a spark leaping across a gap to make a final connection.

There are greater opportunities on the other side of the Stargate, of course -- the chance for something wholly new, rather than shifting dialects or branching language roots -- but he sometimes wishes that these didn't involve trying not to get killed or eaten at the same time.


	9. Daniel in the lions' den

Jack frequently expressed himself in cliches. For Daniel, it was an occupational hazard that no matter how stressed or panicky the situation, he often found himself tracing those cliches or expressions to their original sources.

And so it was now, with his hands painfully bound by soaked leather, his face bleeding, and a hungry Unas licking its chops, that Daniel couldn't help thinking of _Daniel in the lion's den_ and the current parallels. Unlike the original Daniel, though, he had no promise or prayer of Divine grace. He'd have to hope that Chaka's patronage and Jack's P90 would be enough.


	10. Daniel on downtime, with nothing to do

"You can't lock me in here!"

"No choice, Daniel. And no squiggled scrolls or books, either. You need to relax."

"I can't just --"

"I offered to take you fishing," Jack pointed out. "You refused your chance for restful mindlessness."

"That," Daniel said sweetly, "fits nicely within your skill set."

Jack glared. "Frasier says you need down time, Daniel. This is the only way to make it happen."

"I'll get you for this!" Daniel shouted after him. 

The door slammed.

The lock turned.

Daniel's pretended petulance fell away. "Finally," he sighed happily, and burrowed under the covers for some blissful sleep.


	11. Ascension and the things he missed

Ascension was knowledge on the grandest of scales: the joy of learning, of understanding, of perception. 

But joy required emotion, and the Ancients, so bound and determined to prevent emotional dissonance from interfering with the grand harmony of the universes, stolidly retreated from delight, from fear, from ambition.

From love.

(Arrogance, Daniel found, was one emotion they never truly abandoned.)

Yes, it was a wonder to _know_ the workings of creation. But without anyone to share in his delight, Daniel was restless -- in some ways, unhappy. There were some parts of being human that he never learned to leave behind.


	12. The Book of Origin vs. The Da Vinci Code

Daniel enjoyed thrillers as a comfortably brainless way to spend an afternoon, but historical inaccuracy always offended him, no matter what the subject. So he was annoyed at the sheer popularity of _The Da Vinci Code_ when it was first published. Didn't people realize how much Brown twisted history to make things fit? A novel that purports to be historical fiction shouldn't ignore facts to suit the author's needs!

Years later, after reading _The Book of Origin_ and seeing how the Priors twisted its meaning to suit the Ori, Daniel reconsidered. At least Brown's novel wasn't inspiring a bloody crusade.


End file.
